Hands On: 'Street Fighter IV'

The great thing about Japan is that arcades are still very much alive and well. We hit Akihabara, famous for its gadgets and Otaku culture, to try out Street Fighter IV in the arcade. We were then able to compare it to the latest build of the game, which we played on the Xbox 360.

Here's the good news... the home versions of Street Fighter IV will play just as well as the arcade version depending on your controller. Here's the better news... this game is worth buying an arcade stick for and the console versions will include more content than the arcade version.

Hit the jump to read our impressions.

The game is just as crisp as it was when we played it at E3, but it's always nice to get some multiplayer in with Capcom's next-gen fighter. We held our own at the Japanese arcades and were able to beat the game. We beat all challengers in the media at Capcom's suite and will officially declare ourselves the greatest media outlet at the game.

If you've ever played a Street Fighter game, the controls will be familiar to you and you'll be able to pull off moves fairly quickly. The depth comes from the new charge-up, counter system, which is started by holding medium punch and kick. You character will block the first non-special attack during the charge up and it can be released at any time for a lot of damage. Hold it long enough and the enemy will be stunned and open to a nice combo or special move.

Doing special moves when hitting all 3 punch or kick buttons performs a charged up version of the move that is faster and hits more. This is especially useful in combos and skilled use can be devastating. The super moves are extremely powerful, but not guaranteed hits. It takes a lot of skill and timing to hit a super move, but the results are worth the effort. If you defeat the enemy with a super move, you are treated to a great, stylized scene and a nice points bonus.

Just like in the arcade, after battle players are graded on the fly for their battle performance. Start chasing those S ranks!

In addition to more characters, the home versions will also include anime intros and endings for all characters, amounting to about 50 minutes of original anime. This is great news to fighting fans that have been longing for real ending movies in their games. A Capcom spokesperson wouldn't confirm it, but hinted that Gouken would be making it to the console version as well.

As for DLC, there are no announced plans for DLC, but as it is Capcom, we can assume there will be plenty of downloadable costumes. As for online play, the same Capcom representative assures us that it will "surprise" us and they feel it is something that "no one else is doing."